


i looked over it, and i ached

by cryptidwife



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Bisexual Din Djarin, F/M, Gay Luke Skywalker, Good Parent Din Djarin, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, but only for about a chapter, din meets luke's family, din puts off his mandalore responsibilities to protect grogu & luke, han is a lovable idiot, han solo acts like an irritating older brother, mutual yearning, somewhat slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:55:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28826313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryptidwife/pseuds/cryptidwife
Summary: When Din gets the slightest indication from Luke that his son could be in danger, Mand'alor and darksaber be damned, he leaves immediately to watch over Grogu while he completes his Jedi training.What started as a protective measure, accidentally brings the Jedi and Mandalorian closer and causes them to hopelessly pine after one another, in what they each believe is one-sided. They couldn't be more wrong.
Relationships: Din Djarin/Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa/Han Solo
Comments: 18
Kudos: 177





	i looked over it, and i ached

**Author's Note:**

> If you're thinking at any point *insert irritated Han Solo voice* That's Not How The Force Works! that's because I, in fact, have no idea how the force works exactly and what they can and cannot do. If anything is incorrect here, forgive me. I try to do my research but might fall short. 
> 
> I had to contribute to the growing dinluke frenzy, so happy reading! my tumblr is /dindjarindatingsim

Luke had felt so stupid contacting the Mandalorian, but the reaction he had gotten from him had quickly dissipated those doubts and left him more incredulous than anything else. 

Grogu’s father had not only taken it upon himself to show up to Yavin 4 frighteningly fast, but had also decided to stand post as their watchful guardian for the foreseeable future. Maybe it was just that he wasn’t used to people taking his Jedi intuitions so seriously. 

Whenever he sensed something dangerous on the horizon, he usually got a flippant “hey, relax a little, kid,” from Han or an unconvinced,“I haven’t felt anything like that,” from his sister. 

But here this man was, heeding his words so seriously with the utmost of concern. His judgments were probably just clouded by his care for his son’s safety, but it was a nice change of pace for Luke nonetheless. 

He watched as the Mandalorian made his way back from his usual scouting of the surrounding jungle area, blaster at his side.

It was touching, though unnecessary, that he had decided to stay. Even though he was perfectly capable of protecting Grogu himself, it just _hadn’t_ felt right to not tell him about the overwhelming shout in the force telling him that something was after his son again. Especially not after seeing his emotional display when he had come to take Grogu away. 

“You do understand that things I feel in the force aren’t _certain_ , right?” Luke asked with concern as he got within earshot, speaking on behalf of his guilts about bringing him there. 

The Mandalorian stopped to rest a few feet away from him, taking in a tired sigh as he sat. “But you saw something,” he countered matter of factly, not really answering his question. 

Luke got the sense that he wasn’t really understanding. “The force isn’t explicit. It’s mostly images. Feelings. It could mean anything,” he explained thoughtfully, also wanting to ease a father’s worry and eyeing him carefully. 

“You think the kid could be in danger... that’s good enough for me,” the Mandalorian stated, in his typical pragmatic fashion. 

It wasn’t lost on Luke that this implied a certain degree of _trust_ in him, in his opinions. He felt warm at the thought. It felt like a compliment, somehow, coming from him. Instead of speaking on it any further, he changed the subject. 

“Grogu won’t tell me your name. He thinks it’s very important to you to keep things to yourself,” Luke ventured with a slight humor to his voice and an affectionate smile. He enjoyed Grogu’s childish insights on his father. It fed his curiosities. 

Luke’s goal was to establish a level of comfortableness between the two of them, if nothing else. The Mandalorian didn’t seem cold or unfriendly, just... reserved. After a long pause he did worry he might have offended him though. 

“It’s Din Djarin. You can call me Din,” he admitted finally, staring right at him, or Luke figured he was, with as far as he could tell with the helmet in the way. 

“Well, Din. I just hope my intuitions are wrong this time,” Luke continued, inwardly reeling from having learned his name. _Din_. At long last he had a name to put to all those memories Grogu had insistently showed him. A name to the face he had seen once and never been able to forget. 

“We’ll be ready if they aren’t,” Din supplied reassuringly, with a bit of warmness to his voice. _Thanks to you,_ he thought gratefully. 

Luke smiled tenderly in a way that came easily to his features, causing Din to wonder if the thought had been conveyed to him, somehow. _Just how much mind-reading can these Jedi do?_ Din fretted as he couldn’t also stifle the thought that the Jedi looked very pretty just then, blue eyes cast to the ground and his features illuminated in the slowly fading daylight. 

_____________________

“Son of a _bantha_ ,” Luke groaned miserably after checking his comlink the next morning. 

Han, his sister, and Chewie were coming to see him, and there was no way in hell they weren’t going to notice his odd behavior as of late, thanks to a particular Mandalorian. How could he avoid this agonizing humiliation? He was 28 years old, and he was about to be tormented by his family over a ridiculous crush. 

“Artoo, I think I’m going to need you to cut my life short for me,” he lamented dramatically, draped over his bed and blonde hair splayed across it like he was nineteen again. 

“Something wrong?” A smooth, deep voice interjected suddenly from the doorway, concern evident in his voice. He didn’t trust a droid alone in a room with someone if he could help it. Even if Luke seemed to care deeply for said droid. 

Luke about fell out of his bed, so muddled in his thoughts that he hadn’t felt the Mandalorian’s presence nearing his room. Their shelter was mostly humble and the rooms small, so one didn’t have to go out of their way to walk past. 

Luke stood up quickly enough to make his head spin and hoped his hair wasn’t in too much of a disarray. _Great_ , Luke thought dejectedly, _Din’s probably wondering if this laserbrained Jedi should even be training his son_. He steadied himself and patted down his dark garments.

“It’s... my family. We’re getting some unexpected visitors, but not the kind we thought we’d be having,” he explained awkwardly. 

Luke guessed that Din could sense his discomfort and empathized with him. “Grogu and I can stay on my ship for a night or two.... if it’s privacy that you need,” he offered politely. 

Luke chest twisted with affection at the offer. How was this man, despite his cold and menacing encasing of beskar, so sweet and considerate at every turn?

“No, no, it’s okay. That’s totally unnecessary,” he breathed out quickly, hands raised, trying very hard not to smile at how airy he felt in his presence. 

“My family is just... a handful, to put it lightly,” he attempted to articulate with an humorless laugh. Luke received nothing back but a blank stare. “I assure you it won’t get in the way of Grogu’s studies,” he faltered, feeling self conscious under it. 

Din didn’t respond for a pause and moved on from the subject, surprising him for a second time that day. “I’d start that morning meditation sooner rather than later if I were you. Leave the little womp rat on his own for too long, and he’ll try to eat something twice his size,” he mused. _Was Din Djarin trying to be funny?_ Luke wondered in disbelief. 

Luke found himself smiling wide from the sheer shock and flattery of the Mandalorian trying to be friendly with him. 

“I’ll get right on it,” he assured good-naturedly, smile not having left his face. 

Din’s stare never left him as he then slipped past him to search for the child in question. _What do I need to do to earn that smile again?_ Din wondered longingly, still gazing where Luke had stood just moments ago. 

______________

Han stared at his wife and kid brother in-law open-mouthed, taking deep offense at their doubt in his assessments.

“ _Look_ , you don’t just go from being a ruthless bounty hunter to being a doting father! He has some other kind of motivation in being here, I’m sure of it,” Han asserted, observing the Mandalorian who was a good distance from them, watching Grogu inquisitively pick apart some strange flowers and vigilantly keeping him from putting them in his mouth. 

Luke frowned at him testily, feeling protective of his new friend and father to his pupil. “Oh I see, the ex-smuggler with several bounties to his name wants to preach to us about who we should trust,” he teased with some genuine spite, earning soft laughs from Leia and Chewie. 

Han poked a finger into Luke’s chest with mock-seriousness, “Hey, exactly, where do you think I got these instincts from?” He rationalized, “Takes no-good scum to know one.” 

Chewie was quick to grunt his disapproval, pointing out where Han had been wrong before. He had already taken a keen liking to the man in beskar. Din had displayed a deep respect for Wookiee culture, he understood his specific dialect, and he could see that they shared value in familial bonds. Din had also happened to let him win at holochess; a wise decision on his part. 

“I’m fighting you on this too?” Han complained in disbelief. “I’m keeping an _eye_ on him, you’ll all thank me later,” He stressed, not leaving room for argument as he walked away in a bit of a huff. Leia and Luke exchanged looks, each rolling their eyes at his typical antics. 

__________

One could imagine Luke's surprise, when the very next morning, he entered the kitchen to find Han regaling a tale of a grand escape he and Chewie had made on the Falcon during a trade gone wrong, with great embellishes, to a silent but seemingly listening Din. _Is he seriously trying to impress the guy he just told us we shouldn’t trust?_ Luke thought, exasperated. _What a Han-like thing to do._

He abruptly noticed Luke’s presence in the middle of his theatrics. “Why hello, farmboy, nice of you to join us,” Han joked, gesturing widely in his sarcastic manner and trademark smirk. 

“Farmboy?” Din repeated, interest piqued.

Unlike most of the galaxy, he knew so very little of Luke Skywalker. He didn’t want to admit that he was a little starstruck by the Jedi who had destroyed a plethora of dark troopers in an instant, all on his own, looking beautifully untouched and fashionable even after doing so. He continued to fascinate him on the daily, and it was nice that his new-found friend seemed more than willing to enlighten him on the subject of Luke. 

“You mean he didn’t tell you?” Han asked, completely oblivious to Luke’s embarrassment. “He grew up on Tattooine.” Han casually got up from the table to make Din a booze-filled breakfast drink to match his own, not checking if he wanted it first. 

“Since when are you so chipper?” Luke quipped with annoyance before Din had time to comment on the information.

“Since you finally have something _interesting_ going on with you,” he shot back, nodding in Din’s direction. “It’s not everyday you get your first student, or that a Mandalorian waltzes into the equation.” He wasn’t wrong in that regard. 

“You’ll have to forgive him, he doesn’t know what manners are,” Luke addressed Din, glaring at Han in the process. 

“He hasn’t offended me yet,” Din offered, hoping to ease Luke’s palpable nerves and assure him he didn’t need to worry about him. Apparently that wasn’t the right thing to say though, because Han took it as encouragement. 

“You see? You’re just jealous that your friend likes me,” he drawled, grinning slyly.

Was that what this was, Luke realized with horror; _jealousy_ ? This was precisely why the Jedi warned against attachments. He _didn’t_ want to share his friend and he _didn’t_ like that Din was defending him. _Kriff_ , he was losing his grip. Han didn’t know just how right he was. 

It was a good thing Leia walked in right at that moment, because Luke felt close to tearing Han a new one. 

“That’s quite the assumption. That he likes you at all, considering you’ve no doubt been shoving your jokes and stories at him when he’s just woken up,” she reprimanded, raising an eyebrow at him critically. 

Even when being borderline insulted, Han lit up when his wife entered the room, and the moment of tension was successfully avoided. 

“Nice of farmboy _and_ your Worshipfullness to join us,” he supplied playfully, ignoring her comment. He pulled her into a side embrace and kissed her forehead as she feigned irritation but willingly leaned into it. 

Luke definitely didn’t pout as he took a seat across from Din, accepting his fate of being humiliated, as he had previously anticipated. He was too wrapped up in his misery to notice that his arm placed on the table was painfully close to Din’s, their hands ever so close to touching. It didn’t go past Din, however, who felt like his gloved hand was on fire as he briefly fantasized about their fingers brushing, completely against his will.

What Luke _did_ eventually notice and pick up on was the sudden strong feelings rolling off of the Mandalorian in waves. Nothing seemed off about his outward appearance, but the energy was impossible to miss. He had half a mind to ask him if he was alright. 

He opened his mouth to say something, thoughtlessly moving his arms in the process and making their hands brush after all. Din’s hand shot back into his lap like he had painfully shocked him, leaving Luke speechless. The spectacle had also drawn the attention of Han and Leia. 

Din stood up, his heart racing. “Grogu,” he managed to get out. “I should make sure he hasn’t gotten into anything.” He had never been more grateful for the safety of being hidden under his helmet as his cheeks burned. 

Han raised an eyebrow at Luke as soon as the man left the room. “Looks like _I’m_ not the one that offended him.” 

Luke stared at Din's empty seat feeling clueless, not understanding how he had offended him so gravely that he didn’t even want to be in the same room with him anymore. He thought back to their hands, and to the feelings he had picked up on, trying to place a label on what they had been. Could it be, he twinged with hope, that Din felt similarly to him, inexplicably drawn to him in the same way?

No, he _refused_ to entertain the idea, instead deciding that with as little as he knew about Mandalorian’s, he must have committed an unforgivable error and that Din didn’t like to be touched. He’d have to be more thoughtful from now on, if he wanted things to stay amicable between them.


End file.
